WITNESS #4 (official version) of the Prisoner of Conscience Nguyên Van Ly and other Prisoners of Conscience

Vietnam, June 8th and 18th, 2010

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICPR) adopted the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 19th, 1966; Vietnam accession on Sep 24th, 1982, states:

Article 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Current valid 2003 Penal Code of the Communist Government of Vietnam (CGV) states:

Article 6: … the arrest and confinement shall comply with the regulation of this Code.

Cornering and torturing people are prohibited.

Article 7: Every citizen has the right to be protected by the law for his/her life, health, honor, dignity, property. Any violation on citizen’s life, health, honor, dignity, property shall be executed by the law…

Article 8: No one is allowed to violate citizen’s residence, safe, and private mail, phone, telegraph…

Article 9: No one is considered as guilty and punished without legal valid Court’s judgement

But in reality, it is quite common that officers of the giant oppression mechanism of the Vietnam Communist Government (VCG) have done otherwise without fear of being executed by any institution, even without care of any public opinion. How and why have officers of the VCG been rudely and severely violating such articles???

A. Regarding Article 8 of the Penal Code: Needless to say, officers of the VCG have obviously violated it. Only kids and insane people may not see or clearly understand it.

B. Regarding Articles 7 & 9 of the Penal Code:
1. Before the arrest: When the VCG wants to arrest anyone, it always considers that person as an obvious criminal. Therefore, the person is maltreated, sometimes very blatantly. Particularly for Prisoners of Conscience (POC), Political, Religion Prisoners, commonly named as POCs, especially for those who have influence on public opinion: the VCG uses its giant propaganda mechanism (newspapers, radio, and television broadcasts) at maximum capacity to drag their names to the mud, to label them as criminals, to distort the truth, to publicly pre-accuse them for months prior to the official, though artificial and formal court which are held several months and sometimes years later. For example, from December 2000 to May 18, 2001, through the loudspeakers of Thuy Bieu commune, Hue City, there were continuously broadcast speeches to defame me. Five speeches were broadcast in the morning and five in the afternoon which targeted to Nguyet Bieu parishioners and people of Thuy Bieu commune. The loudspeakers of Phu An commune, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien-Hue province were projected directly to An Truyen church during Mass service and prayer time, broadcasting nine speeches in the morning and nine in the afternoon (Feb 15 –May 18, 2001). The loudspeakers of Phong Xuan commune, Phong Dien district, Thua Thien – Hue province broadcast seven speeches in the morning and seven in the afternoon (Feb 25-Mar 30, 2007) to defame me aiming at Ben Cui parishioners and people of Phong Xuan commune.
Common citizens may be beaten, scolded, threatened, and administratively punished. Particularly, since the beginning of 2010, many people have been brutally beaten, even killed. (On May 25, 2010, in Nghi Son , Tinh Hai commune, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province, government officers shot directly to the crowd which resulted in two deaths)…

2. After the arrest: on the way to and right at detention centers of wards, communes, district offices, depending on the center and the mood of officers in charge, the following torture techniques could be applied.

All those five well known POCs are willing to testify about torture techniques mentioned below with any international investigation institution that cares for the human right issue in Vietnam.

At the present time, any officer in charge who is successful in investigation resulting in collecting back an asset (due to corruption, smuggling, drug selling, …) could get a reward worth of 40%-60% of the asset value (i.e 400 million – 600 million VND of 1 billion VND collected). Therefore, the officer is very willing to torture the arrestee to achieve the purpose.

Characteristics of typical torture techniques of the Vietnam Communist Government:
The following methods of torture, which are used both to force a confession from the prisoner and to persecute him/her, are “made in Vietnam, full of creativity, not comparable with any tyrannical regime”. They can be used at any office and do not require any traditional outdated torture tool. It would be adequate if the “office” is a little bit out of sight of other curious victims. Their torture tools, which are both wildly brutal and elegantly modernized, hard to be uncovered but always available such as sunshine, pens, rulers, desks, chairs, floor, ceiling, windows, gloves, slippers, leather boots, keys, key chains, padlock, iron nails, hand cuffs, electric whip, blackjack, …, even the long hair of the torturer.

Those techniques have been selected through years of research. They often leave wounds which can be self cured after 3-6 months. Some techniques obviously cause inner damage which could lead to death. However, the forensic physician may attribute the death to a certain disease, because those techniques leave very little outer trace which may be the evidence for later petition. Government officers even use cunning tricks of letting the prisoner affected by HIV-SIDS which may lead to the prisoner’s death.

These methods of torture are beastly concupiscent, abominably wild, extraordinarily brutal, unbelievable but totally true as described below.

1/- Corporal punishment, tortures, fines and unreasonable prohibitions applied to both male and female prisoners
They are more applicable for female than male prisoners because men are more resistant, strongly bouncing back. They dare to die to fight back fiercely.

1/1. Prohibition of Missionary Activities: Article 11/15 of current prison’s regulation prohibits “Missionary activities”. I have been continuously objecting the article 11/15 from Feb 2001 to Mar 2010 and publicly pronounced it in writing for 27 times that “I am willing to be imprisoned until death if there exist the phrase “prohibition of missionary activities” in the prison’s regulation of the VCG”. Some officers also believe that the phrase is unreasonable and could harm the VCG’s credibility. However, the official authorities of the VCG are stubbornly unchanged.

1/2. Ask the prisoner to address officers as Grandfather/Grandmother and address him/herself as grandchild, in spite of the fact that the “Grandpa/Grandma” is only 19-20 years of age, and the “grandchild” is almost 70, 75, or 80 years old!

1/4. Group beating: A group of male and female officers wearing hard leather boots, equipped with either blackjacks or bare hands, take turnd to knock, kick a prisoner like a ball until they feel bored or until the victim has to kneel down to beg them “Grandpa/Grandma, please forgive me. I will… take this lesson”. Or until the victim become unconscious.

1/5. Beat the prisoner while he/she on his/her kneels: the officers using blackjack, slippers, or leather boots knock, kick, stamp the prisoner on his/her face, chest, lower abdomen until the victim begs for cessation or becomes unconscious with bruises all over his/her body, particularly at the private parts.

1/6. The officers stamp on the prisoner’s chest, belly/shoulders, back… after letting the prisoner lie face up/down. The beating only stops when the victim vomits blood or becomes unconscious.

1/7. The prisoner is hung up to the window frame with hands cuffed for several hours until he/she agrees to sign on the minues of confession.

1/8. The prisoner is hung up to the ceiling with both arms handcuffed backward: The shoulder joints of the victim are 1800 twisted upward due to both arms being handcuffed backward and hung up to the ceiling. The torture only stops when the prisoner yields.

1/9. The prisoner is striken on the mouth, teeth, jaw, face,… by blackjack until he/she agrees to sign on the minues of confession due to consternation.

1/10. The prisoner is striken on his/her ten finger tips by a padlock, a door key, or a blackjack:
The victim is required to put both hands on the desk with ten fingers stretching out. The officer uses a padlock, or a door key, a blackjack to strike on the finger tips. The victim is not allowed to
withdraw his/her finger. Otherwise he/she will be striken more severely. The torture only stops when the prisoner agrees to sign the minutes of confession

1/11. Head drumming:The officer uses a ruler to strike around the prioner’s head from the temple up to the top resulting in headache, tinnitus, bleeding through nose holes, and ear holes, razor sharp feeling in limbs… and finaly unconsciousness.

1/12. Exposing the prisoner to the burning sun: The prisoner is required to lie under the the burning sun for 2-4 hours, in spite of being sick, until he/she becomes unconscious or agrees to sign the minute of confession.

1/13. Confining the prisoner in a special disciplinary cell and solitary confinement: When a prisoner who breaches the prison’s regulation such as revealing torture techniques to other, objecting/resisting officers due to maltreatment/unreasonable prohibition,…, will be put both legs in stocks, sometimes without cloths even without underware, for 7-14 days and nights and extended to 3-6-12, 24, 36,… months if necessary. In some cases the prisoner is beaten brutally including other tortures which makes him/her (particularly female prisoner) to be too consternated to resist or reveal the torture to others.

Particularly when a PC is caught being explaining or distributing material on Justice, Democracy, Freedom to other inmates or other officers, the PC may be put both legs in stocks for 7-14 nights, restrained from family visit, and from family supplies for 1, 3, 6,… months. After that he/he may be kept in solitary confinement for 12-24-36 months or untile the sentence expires, (for instance,the case of PC Nguyen Xuan Nghia from the beginning of June 2010 in Prison K1, Nam Ha, Ba Sao, Kim Bang, Ha Nam).

2/- Specific torture techniques applied for male prisoners:

2/14. Strike the prisoner’s penis with electric whip: Male prisoner is often reluctant to reveal this technique because of face issue.

2/15. Strike on Prisoner’s penis: The prisoner is striken on his penis by a whip. Particularly, the prisoner is required to put his penis on the windowsill and the officer uses a blackjack to strike on it
until it is bleeding or spilling sperms which results in impotency.

2/16. Putting the prisoner in a confined space for 1-2 years without sunlight: Zone C, Prison B34, Police Ministry, Nguyen Van Cu St, Nguyen Cu Trinh ward, District 1, Saigon, has a kind of cell of 2mHx1.5mWx2mL. The cell includes a toilet seat and water basin inside. It has a vent of 20cmx27cm for both air and food supplies. A prisoner could be kept in this cell for 1-2 years continuosly without sunlight which results in despair and consternation. The prisoner will be defeated soon in such situation. There exist at least four cells of this kind in this prison. PC Nguyen Ngoc Quang has been able to survive after more than 2 years kept in such “concrete box”. From May 18, 1983 I was also kept in such a “concrete box” which is very warm and air tight at Thua Thien Hue prison, next to the detention camp of Hue city. But after 4 months, when officials saw that I was almost exhausted, I was transferred to other cell.

2/17. Eliminating Political Prisoners (POCs) by shaving their head and face using razors which were used for isolated HIV-AIDS prisoners: In prison K2, Z30A, Xuan Truong, Xuan Loc, Dong Nai, Police Captain Nguyen Trung Co, 48 years old, Security Captain Hai, 42 years old, Captain Nguyen Anh Dung (education), 36 years old, used razors which had been used for isolated HIVAIDS prisoners to shave head & face of political prisoners, with the purpose of causing HIV- AIDS disease transmission. During 2000-2010, I strongly believe that at least four Political prisoners out of 13 POCs who died at this prison, died due to this ruse. Currently, in this prison K2, Z30A, POC Do Van Thai, 55 years old, who has been imprisoned for 12 years out of 20 year imprisonment sentence, is suffering from AIDS of last stage, due to being shaved by such “made in Vietnam” style. There are about 20 POCs who have been being imprisoned in this prison, willing to testify to this situation. They include (being imprisoned): Nguyen Huu Cau, 64yrs, Le Van tinh, 64yrs, Ngueyn Tan Nam, 62yrs, Truong MInh Duc, 55yrs, Truong Van Duy, 45yrs, …(previously imprisoned at the same prison); Nguyen Ngoc Quang, 50yrs, Nguyen Huu Phu, 56yrs,… Other Prisoners of Conscience who are currently imprisoned in this prison include: Phạm Bá Hải, Trần Quốc Hiền, Bùi Đăng Thủy, Lê Nguyên Sang, Trương Văn Duy, Trương Quốc Huy,…

3/18. Forcing female prisoners down on their knees while holding a blackjack in their mouth: Female prisoners were required to be down on their knees and to hold the officer’s blackjack (symbolizing a penis) in their mounth for 2-4 hours with tears and utmost shame.

3/19. Destroying food in front of hungry prisoners: the officer asked a prisoner on duty to cut a cake (which was sent in by prisoner’s family) into 4 pieces and to throw them into a dustbin mixing with feminine hygene diapers; or to mix bread, rice with dirty water then daring: “Whoever picks up that cake/rice to eat would be worse than a dog”. Or the officer standing at one end of the cell splashed a bowl of rice all over prisoner’s beddings in the cell then required them to clean it up.

3/20. Handcuffing the prisoner upside-down and backward: The prisoner was forced with her left hand crossed the right shoulder and cuffed downward with the other hand streching to the back which caused the victim great pain. After a few hours of interrogation in such position, both arms of the prisoner were almost paralised. The victim could even not serve herself for eating and other daily routine. The situation could be normalized after 3-6 months.

3/21. Sitting on a chair with it’s leg resting on prisoner’s instep: The prisoner was required to sit on a chair with her feet exposed forward. The officer put one leg of his chair on the prisoner’s instep, and sat on that chair to interrogate the victim for 2-3 hour continuously. The prisoner would feel pain like her foot bones being broken. The wound could be self cured after 3-6 months.

3/22. Rolling square edge rulers or pens between prisoner’s fingers’ spaces: The officer inserted square edge rulers into spaces between prisoner’s fingers and grasped those fingers together with one of his hand while he used the other hand to roll the ruler over. The victim would feel pain like her fingers being ground. When rulers were not available, the officer may use pens with a tighter grasp to create the same effect.

3/23. Striking ear through ear: The prisoner was required to put her head on a table with one ear contacting the table surface. The officer would flap violently several times on the other ear which trembles her ear drum and causes vestibule disorder. After this speciality of ear striking, the victim would feel a sharp pain in the brain, vomit and have to drag her feet back to to the cell staggering like a drunkard.

3/24. Electronic whipping: The prisoner was stripped naked and struck by an electronic whip resulting in open wounds which would fester and be painfully prolonged

3/25. Stripping the prisoner off even underwear: “In prison K3, Ninh Khanh, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh, in the morning of Nov 14, 2009, before freeing me, Officer Dinh Thiet Hung forced me (Le Thi Kim Thu) to enter the bath room for a strip search. There were some female officers standing by with safety gloves ready to search my vagina. I objected that and requested the presence of the prison’s physician and superintendants. If the search turned out nothing, I would file a denunciation. “Without search, without release!” an officer said. I replied “I don’t care. I used to enter this little prison from a greater one. Now I am going to come back to the greater prison. It does not make any difference!” I returned to the cells zone. After that the officer ordered all prisoners to assemble in the prison’s yard for “regulations practice”. I followed them to the yard and observed them in practice for about 3 hours. After that Officer Hung ordered me to collect my belongings for release. After collecting my belongings, at the locked gate, there were 4 female officers standing by. They forced me to remove all my clothes. They carefully searched all my clothes including underwear. then Officer Hang odered me to squat on a toilet of about 50cm height so that she can slip her hand into my vagina. I objected to that. She ordered me to stand up and down several times so that something might drop out if anything was there. After that the officer looked into my vagina to search for any hidden item. They seized my panty on which I noted family addresses and phone numbers of other inmates, including the family address of a male prisoner who was beaten to death in K2, Ninh Khanh. They did not return my panty nor gave me another one upon my release. At the administration area where I was called to complete the release procedure, the officer gave me 750,000VND for transportation fee. I declined and noted on the minutes that “What I need is not 750,000VND but my panty so that I can wear upon my journey back home.” The officer brought the minutes back to report it to somebody without my knowledge. On the way back to me, there was another officer named Phong. He ordered me to enter into an office to rewrite the minutes. But I declined and kept standing at the hall. When the minutes were rewritten and handed to me for signing, I still noted: “What I need is my panty.” They got mad saying that the panty issue would be dealt with later. I replied that despite you write a dozen minutes, I will keep noting the request of giving back my panty. The officer said “you have created so many issues in this prison!”. Finally, they assigned a female officer named Tuyên to escort me out of the prison, forcing me back to “free” life without a panty!!! I will keep forever requesting the CGV to return my panty”. This is the verbatim report of the Prisoner of conscience Le Thi Kim Thu’s words. Her testimony includes torture techniques 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 1/12, 1/13, 3/16, 3/17, 3/23, 3/24, 3/26).

3/26. The prisoner is forced to lie face up/down with two feet stamping on sharp iron rods until bleeding and defeated

3/27. Striking both nipples by electric whip. This torture was used along with technique 1/7: The prisoner was hung up to the window. Her bra was stripped off to expose the breasts. Her face was covered by her shirt. Her mouth could be covered or not. The officer then struck her nipples with an electric whip to force the confession or to persecute her.

3/28. Rubbing the prisoner’s private part by an electric blackjack: After stripping the female prisoner, the officer used an electric blackjack to rub her private part through her thin panty. This burned the vagina hair and skin.

3/30. Using labor safety gloves to search prisoner’s vagina: This technique was used repetitively at prison #1 of Hanoi Police Department, Hoa Lo, Ha noi. Officer Nguyên thi Lan (Lan Fox), 32 years old entered the collective cell and aksed: You must show any hidden item. Othewise, I will use these gloves! The officer then ordered 25 female prisoners to take off their clothes and to lean over with the rear end sticking up so that she can search their vagina by crudely inserting her hand in one by one of 25 vaginas while using only one rough labor safety glove, regardless of HIV-AIDS transmission risk. The victims even included women in their menstrual priod. This unique “made in Vietnam” torture technique was applied by the officers in spite of prisoner’s utmost shameful and painful screams. This technique was also often used/observed by officers Nhung (Nhung Fox, 32 years old), Nguyên thi Bich Thuy (28 years old) in Hoa Lo Prison.

3/31. The hair of death: Female Lieutenant-colonel Nguyên Thi Thanh, the superintendent of female detention camp #1, Hanoi Police Department, Hoa Lo, Hanoi, whose husband is the policeman of Cong Vi ward, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, is always proud of her long-to-heel hair. This female evil genius always used her unique long hair as a torture tool to persecute female prisoners. Thanh ordered the prisoner to be down on the knees then used her hair tail to whip on the victim’s face and neck until bleeding, scratching,…Or let the prisoner lie, face up or down, exposing flesh so that she can brutally whip on the victim’s back, shoulder, belly, shoulder, and face, …until the victim was writhing with pain due to the storm of that hair of death. In 2008, Thanh retired and transferred that monstrous malice to another evil genius, Female Lieutenant-colonel Bui Thi Bich Hanh who is even more wicked.

3/32. Extremely “creative” window railing: Female Lieutenant-colonel Bui Thi Bich Hanh who succeeded Thanh mentioned in technique 3/27 above, as the superintendent of female detention camp #1, Hanoi Police Department, Hoa Lo, Hanoi, currently (2010) in service called the victim (inside the cell) to approach the window. Without opening the door, from outside, Bich Hanh grasped the prioner’s hair and brutally pulled the victim so that her face and head was banged to the window railing. Hanh kept twitching the victim’s face-head against the window railing until it was swollen, scratched and bleeding like a bunch of red flamboyant. The more painful the victim was, the more joyful Bich Hanh felt.

D. There may exist many other much more cruel torture techniques which I am not clearly and precisely aware of. I wish that former prisoners, particularly former religious, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience would amend to this Witness # 4 to make it known to the civilized public opinion of present world. We lay bare the truth not because of hatred for anybody but because it is our responsibility to condemn and eliminate evils regardless of their sources and forms. At the same time we have to demand justice for every individual of human family, particularly for Vietnam compatriots.

Prior to being released, all female prisoners had to be trained for 4 days. They were threatened not to disclose those torture techniques to the outside world if they would like to be released and to live peacefully. Therefore, as years by, almost all released female prisoners dare not disclose those methods of torture. It was the extreme fear that almost completely paralyzed them.

As well as five prisoners of conscience mentioned above, prisoner Nguyen Thi Khuong, born in
1960, resident at 35A, Ky Ba ward, Thai Binh who are medically treated at the clinic of prison K3,
Ninh Khanh, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh due to being persecuted by torture technique 1/12 (exposed to the
burning sun) for several times of several hours, is willing to testify on torture techniques 1/2.4.6.7.8.9.10.12.13;3/18.19.20.21.22.23.24.25.26.27.28.30.

Why were Vietnam Communist officers such wild, heartless and cruel?

The short but precise and complete answer is that they are orthodox disciples of Karl Max, Lenin, particularly Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh !!!

After publishing this Witness #4, there are many people who ask me which tortures I have suffered. Beside the torture 2/16 of putting in a confined space without sunlight mentioned above, I would add:

1. With validity since 1977, article 20 of the prison’s 48 article regulation states: The prisoner is not allowed to make the Holy Cross Sign, to say prayer, to say the Holy Mass, to conduct missionary activities,…I replied to the Superintendent of the Board (SB) of prison Thua Phu, Huê that I would not obey that article. I was explained that it was not the SB who created such article but it was issued by the Police Ministry. The SB responsibility was to read it to me. It is up to me to observe it. During 1980-1992, the updated version included 10 articles and 20 articles of new cultured life style, of which article 6 prohibited missionary, psychic activities, … I pronounced that I would not follow. I went for hunger strike for several times to object that article and thereby to publicly object to it by noting against it in 27 minutes denouncing the VCG.

2. On May 18, 1993, there were about 200 policemen encircling Doc So Church, Huê to arrest me. When a group of policemen entered the Doc So Parish office, stripped off my clerical dress, a policeman struck me on my right back hip. I turned back and smiled: “I thought you must have something new. But this trick was too old. It existed in the time of Liáng Shan heros already!”. Upon hearing that, the lieutenant colonel commander gave a gesture to stop that. Since then, I always use the smile for effective self defense

3. Since 1983, I have always objected prison officers and defense those prisoners who were unreasonably persecuted by those officers. In 1990, together with the prisoner poet Nguyên Chi Thiên, I told Captain Duong Duc Thang, head of Prison K1, Nam Ha, Ba Sao, Kim Bang, Ha Nam (now becoming Colonel, head of the whole Prison 3K, Nam Ha) : “I request the SB to issue a serious order to all officers that they are not allowed to beat prisoners. You should not think that beating prisoners in the jungle would not be made known to anybody. Actually, those officers are beating the weakening credibility of your Communist Party. If you just give empty words, it proves that you are Jekyll and Hyde: Both disallowance and allowance”.

4. I was put in stock of one leg from 16:00pm to 9:00am the next morning at the disciplinary cell K1, Thanh Cam, Cam Thuy, Thanh Hoa for more than 2 years (Nov 1983 – May 1986). It was because I had helped 6 “illicit” Catholic priests of the northern Catholic Church to practice religious retreat for one week when they were temporarily put in the same cell with me. After that they were moved to a collective cell for laboring. I who helped the retreat was thrown into the disciplinary cell without any minutes or reason announcement.

5. During the period of 2001-2010, I was always kept in a solitary confinement of 15m2, in the middle of a 400m2 area. There was no inmate around me but whenever I’ve got precise information about any prisoner being persecuted or oppressed, I always went on a hunger strike to object officers of Prison K1, Nam Ha, Ba Sao, Kim Bang, Ha Nam. It was the opportunity for me to write in an official minutes my objection because those minutes must be filed. Sometimes, the officer, who had beaten prisoners, was put on disciplinary action, suspended, had to apologize and compensate the victim. During the periof of Dec 11, 2009 to Mar 15, 2010, after returning to the prison from hospital 198, Ha noi, there was an inmate assigned the same cell with me to help me in daily activity because my right arm and leg were paralyzed.

The Prisoner of Conscience, Catholic Priest Nguyên Van Ly – Huê, June 08, 2010
On the occasion of the 22nd death anniversary of the Late Archbishop Philippe Nguyên Kim Diên,
Who was martyred on June 08, 1988 at Cho Ray hospital, Saigon due to being poisoned by physicians of the Communist Government of Vietnam. (Please refer to “The witness on the death of Rev. Archbishop Nguyên Kim Diên – How was the Archbishop martyred?”) by Father Thaddeus Nguyên Van Ly, Jan 30, 2001).